Biofuel Powerplant Optimization

Many nowadays biofuel powerplants suffer inefficiency in several ways. The built-in electrical equipment is not commonly controlled by inverters but contactors. This results in both fast mechanical wearing of the mechanical components and power waste for full speed operation of the engines.

For a biofuel powerplant in Bavaria, possibilities to reduce both energy consumption and mechanical decay were analyzed. The suggested solution of implementing PLC driven and sensor controlled inverters for the electric ventilators, pumps and mixing equipment reduces the self power consumation from average 20kWh down to 10kWh per operating hour. For the estimated 200 annual operation days, savings of approximately 10T € can be achieved. With these savings, the initial costs for the inverters and sensors will be accumulated in approximately 1 year. In addition, mechanical wearing and maintenance downtime is greatly reduced.

Automatic fine-grain control of the input gas pressure for the generator is a crucial factor for the power generation and therefore for the productivity of the biofuel powerplant. With the implemented solution for the impeller, a steady input pressure is achieved.